The chilly winter weather often has an influence on your diet. You find yourself eating more comfort foods and drinking more hot chocolates, but can’t your winter warmers also be healthy? If you want something warm and flavourful, while still taking care of your wellness, we’ve got the answer for you: chicken and pasta. The following recipes are vastly beneficial for your wellbeing – both physically and emotionally – and they’re also pretty easy to make!
1. Chicken Pasta in Spinach Sauce: This recipe is good for your heart. To start, cook 500g of fresh spinach in a pot containing 1½ cups of chicken broth until the spinach softens. Then, drain and stain the spinach and keep the broth to one side. Keep things as is if you want a rough sauce, but if you want something smoother you should use a food processor to blend the cooked spinach and a few tablespoons of the broth. Add 250g pasta shells into a large pan of boiling water, and cook until froths appear on the top. Drain the shells and keep aside. In a pan, heat two teaspoons of olive oil on a medium flame, add four cloves of chopped garlic and sauté, making sure not to let the garlic turned brown. Add your spinach and sprinkle on ½ a teaspoon black pepper, ½ a teaspoon nutmeg and ½ a teaspoon salt. Add 250g of chicken breast sliced in to cubes, and the remaining broth, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Then, stir in the cooked pasta, stir and for two to three minutes for all the flavours to come through.
2. Mexican Style Chicken Pasta:Wash and chop six thoroughly drained canned tomatoes, four chopped Scallions and one large green bell pepper. Set these aside and pour five cups of salted chicken broth into a pan. Add in one teaspoon chilli powder, two cloves of minced garlic and one teaspoon cumin. Bring these ingredients to a boil on medium flame and stir in the chopped vegetables. Cut up 250g of skinless, boneless chicken and add this to the pan, covering and simmering for 10-15 minutes on low flame. Once the chicken is tender and the vegetables are mushy, take the pan off the heat. The liquid should have reduced and thickened. Cook a packet of spaghetti and, while that’s cooking, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add another clove of minced garlic and throw in the cooked spaghetti. Toss around till the spaghetti is well coated with garlic infused oil. Throw your chicken mixture into the heavy bottomed pan and add in six to eight chopped green chillies. Simmer for 5 minutes on a medium flame to blend all the flavours together, then garnish with ½ a cup of chopped coriander and one cup of shredded cheese.
3. Greek Penne with Chicken: In a large vessel of salted water, boil a packet of penne pasta, drain and keep aside. Hold on to ½ cup of this boiled water. Place a heavy skillet on high flame and melt in two tablespoons of butter. Add one tablespoon of olive oil, then place in two minced garlic gloves and two chopped red onions. Stir fry until the ingredients turn pink; add 250g of chicken breast cut in to small pieces, and sauté for 10-12 minutes. Reduce the heat and add in a can of artichoke hearts, a can of chopped tomato, a cup of shredded feta cheese, ¼ cup of chopped parsley, ½ cup lemon juice and a tablespoon of dried oregano. Stir in the pasta and, if it seems too dry, add ½ cup of water you boiled the pasta in to make a sauce that coats the pasta well. Cook for about three minutes to let the flavours to combine. Season with black pepper and salt and serve.
